Democracy
Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. In City-States 2: Feuding Nations, democracy is one of the fundamental ideas behind popular pressure for reforms. Democratic ideals were spread during the revolution, and it will be difficult to avoid them. This article primarily deals with the mechanics of introducing democratic processes into your nation, what limitations it will place on your actions, and how far you can go before your very position as ruler is under threat. Absolutism and its Advantages Absolutism is when the power is vested in a single individual or clique. A lot of player nations have, de facto, this kind of government at this moment in time. Absolute monarchies, presidential dictatorships and any kind of non-representational upper government is considered absolutist - even if democratic processes are included further down the governmental totem pole. The advantages to this are obvious. You won't face any limitations to your actions and will be able to dictate how your nation responds to issues and concerns with little difficulty. However, this kind of government is inherently unpopular amongst Sabourinists and other pro-reform or revolutionary groups. Constitutional Monarchy or Dictatorship The ruler still goes in for an unlimited term, with predefined laws dictating how various things occur - most importantly, constitutionally mandated limits on ruler power. These could be little things, such as preventing imprisonment without trial, or execution without reason, etc. Your lawmakers will, in a constitutional dictatorship, fill the books with these little laws that you will be informed of should you move to break them. They tend to just ensure that citizens are treated reasonably fairly and that the dictator can't overstretch their power - but moving in the right way, getting around these laws isn't too hard. You can also create constitutional limits yourself, such as ideology mandates etc., and constitutional mandates can help a lot in more democratic governments to ensure you always have something to fall back on. Head of State and the Government Your head of state is usually the exact figure your place in the game is tied to. They are the dictators in absolutist dictatorships, and can do as they please. As constitutionalism and democracy become more important, their powers are often eroded in favor of a stronger government. Steps to permit elections can, and should, be carefully considered before being taken. Having one or more elected house in your government can limit the passage of new laws and reforms, or force them through, depending on what duties the chamber in question holds. Common duties are policy making and law vetting; the latter is better for systems where you want a dictator or head of state to maintain some degree of power. Once an elected body of officials exist, it will fill up with people of various parties or ideologies, depending on the prevalence of party politics and the laws involved. You can (and ought to) back a single party if parties are in use, which will be the one that follows your own opinions. If ideologies instead take prevalence, seats will back your choices if they reflect their own ideologies, or reject them if they go directly against them. Their choices can also be swayed by their opinion of you and other factors, such as corruption. This means you may need to balance the favor of an elected house when trying to pass new laws. Elected Heads of State Elected heads of state are most reformers' eventual end-goals. However, elected heads of state risk the possibility of you personally losing power! If you lose favor in an election, you may be forced to spend time sitting on the bench in opposition, lacking true power, or worse! As such, the risk of losing all your power should be enough to convince you to resist these particular reform pressures. Should you be forced into having an elected leader or leading body (or, for some reason, reform that way willingly) you will have to maintain the favor of your populace, or at least the portion of them with suffrage, during election seasons. Should you fail, you may need to take emergency measures to secure power, or you must admit defeat and step down for the person elected in to take your place. Normally this will be an NPC, but it may end up being another player... Democracy and Revolution Many revolutionary ideologies promote democracy. If one rises up and you do not think it will be easy to suppress, it may be necessary to discuss with the rebellious leaders whether you can pass any reforms to end the revolt. Democratic revolutionaries may go home if, for example, suffrage is extended to a wider group. Beware; if these revolutionaries seize the capital building/palace and hold it down without being threatened, they can then enforce much more severe demands, going from enforcing constitutional monarchy to outright executing your leader!